Dr. Dulal Chandra Podder

Dr. Dulal Chandra Podder has a degree from Vienna. DGS. Along with his MBBS from Dhaka University. Vienna is pretty far from here. Probably cold. Now he is a senior consultant in general surgery. He sits in his room looking at ultrasound reports. Mostly just gallstones and hernias. People come in holding their right side. He tells them to lie flat on the examination bed. The paper sheet crinkles. He just presses his fingers into their stomach. Asks if it hurts. They usually wince. He just nods. Goes back to his chair. Writes down the surgery date on a small piece of paper. Does not talk much about Vienna. Just writes the admission orders.

He has been cutting people open for a long time. Senior consultants usually get the complicated cases. Or they just supervise the younger guys. Up in the OT it smells like iodine and surgical spirit. He washes his hands at the deep metal sink. Scrubbing up to the elbows with a rough sponge. He wears those faded green scrubs. He stands over the table. Asks for a scalpel. The nurse slaps it into his palm. He makes the cut. Fixes the hernia with a piece of plastic mesh. Sews it up with thick black thread. Sort of routine work by now. He finishes the knots. Takes off his mask. Leaves the heavy doors swinging behind him.